世界各地的许多政府都开始注意到自由／开源软件并启动了项目以利用它们。许多这样的项目还处于早期阶段，但明显的趋势是将自由／开源软件作为自有体系和开发政策的一部分。据报道，除了推荐自由／开源软件解决方案的大量报告和白皮书，世界各地有70条立法提案强制或鼓励使用自由软件[38]。其中有几部法律是国家级的，而大多数是省级或市级的法案。以下是世界各地一些最值得注意的进展。

=欧洲=

欧洲不仅有一大批自由／开源软件开发者，而且其行政部门对自由／开源软件有很强烈的兴趣。特别是以德国、法国和英国为代表的欧盟正领导着自由／开源软件的开发。

==欧盟==

欧盟撰写了一篇讨论文稿，强调开放标准和在合适的领域提倡自由／开源软件。这篇名为“连接欧洲：电子政府服务的相互可操作性”的论文，关注连接不同国家的电子政务系统，并对过去“产生了封闭的、垂直的、规模不变的而且常常是私有的信息系统”[39]的开发方式提出了批评。这篇论文是 eEurope 计划的一部分。欧盟也建立了自由／开源软件竞争力中心并资助了一些与健康服务相关的应用的开发[40]。

==德国==

德国有许多不同的项目同时进行。德国议会的150台服务器使用 Linux [41]，而慕尼黑市在微软突然的降价条件[42]面前仍然计划将14,000台桌面计算机换为 Linux 系统。德国警察部门也正在将11,000台终端换为 Linux 系统。有趣的是价格并不总是大规模平台迁移的原因。德国内务部长 Otto Schilly 说：“我们通过避免单一化提高了计算机系统的安全性，也降低了对单一供应商的依赖。”[43]德国议会在2001年决定自由／开源软件产品在任何其应用能够降低成本的场合都应当被使用 [44]。财政部使用了一套支持15,000名用户的基于 Linux 和 Apache 的内部网系统[45]。

==法国==

官方的政府部门信息技术和通讯局（Agency for Technologies of Information and Communication in Administration）的目的之一是“鼓励政府部门使用自由软件和开放标准。”[46]海关和间接税管理局也由于安全理由迁移到了 Linux 平台。法国的电子政务管理部门强制所有公共管理机构使用开放标准以保证相互可操作性 [48]。

==英国==

英国在最近才开始指定关于采用自由／开源软件的政策，但至今的其他政策态度都有利于自由／开源软件。英国主要想避免对私有软件的依赖问题，并制定了“在所有将来的信息技术开发中只使用支持开放标准和要求的软件以保证互操作性”的政策 [49]。对自由／开源软件最积极的推动者之一是国家健康服务，其部分原因是无力支付私有软件的费用迫使医院转向使用 Linux [50]。

==芬兰==

Linux 之父的祖国顺理成章地应该是自由／开源软件界的活跃角色。一项计划是把整个 Turku 市的所有桌面系统逐步迁移到 Linux 和 Open Office。目前200台计算机的试点计划正在进行中。

芬兰政府据报道也正在考虑把所有桌面系统更换为 Linux ，这涉及多达 147,000 台计算机 [51]。

=美洲=

==美国==

虽然美国联邦政府并没有官方的自由／开源软件政策，在州一级却有一些通过支持自由／开源软件的法规的尝试。这样的州包括加利福尼亚[52]，得克萨斯[53]，以及俄勒冈[54]。至今还没有法案被正式通过，但这样的势头近期内不会减缓。

关于美国政府使用自由／开源软件的正式信息很难找到，但 MITRE 公司的一份调查显示美国国防部共使用了115种不同的自由／开源软件，并有251份使用的例子[55]。此外，有多份报告推荐在美国联邦政府使用自由／开源软件，其中由总统信息技术顾问团（President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, PITAC）编写的一份报告推荐“美国联邦政府鼓励将开源软件开发作为高端计算软件开发的一条新路”[56]。

一些较小的公共机构转换到了自由／开源软件平台。最广为人知的例子是佛罗里达的 Largo 市。他们让900名公务员使用 GNU/Linux，并节约了一百万美元的硬件和软件成本[57]。Largo 市并不仅仅使用 Linux 操作系统，而且把整个计算方式改为瘦客户端模式（目前的微软 Windows 系统无法做到这点）并因此节省了大量的硬件成本。得克萨斯的休斯敦也在微软提出一个1,200万美元的长期授权方案后迁移到了自由／开源软件平台[58]。

==秘鲁==

秘鲁作为世界上首先提出在政府采购中支持自由／开源软件的法规的国家而在自由／开源软件社区中享有盛名。这些法规带来的舆论，微软的反应和立法的支持者 Edgar David Villanueva Nu\~nez 博士的强有力的回应将会在信息技术媒体上占据很长一段时间。Nu\~nez 博士的一些回应如下：

“为保证公民对公共信息的自由获取，数据编码方式必然不能受制于单一的供应商。使用标准和开放的格式并在必要是开发与之兼容的自由软件能够保证这样的自由获取。

“为了保证公共数据的永久性，软件的可用性和维护不能依赖于供应商的善意，或者他们的垄断条款。因此国家需要能够获得源码的系统以保证其进一步的开发。”[59]

虽然法案至今未能通过（由于微软一份55万美元的捐赠和来自美国大使馆的压力），秘鲁法案背后的理由是任何一个需要处理公共数据的政府应当考虑的。

==巴西==

巴西政府准备在未来3年内把政府和国有机构的80％的计算机迁移到 Linux 平台。试点计划正在进行，缓慢渐进的迁移计划也已制定。政府设立了“软件自由实施小组”推动迁移进程。这一举动的理由包括降低成本，增加本地软件开发和“知识获取的民主化”[60]。

=亚太地区=

==区域情况==

发达国家和发展中国家并存的亚太地区，自由／开源软件的使用和开发都非常活跃。这个地区内的三个大国——日本，南韩和中国——最近都宣布了开发适应其各自需要的自由／开源操作系统的计划[61]。

==中国==

中国在未来几年里将成为自由／开源软件的重要阵地。自由／开源软件在该国的使用发展势头迅猛，仅 Linux 的增长在2003年估计就达到175％[62]。

这样显著的增长的一个主要的推动者是中国政府本身。它的目标之一是建立“不会落入外国知识产权陷阱的”硬件和软件工业[63]。中国正试图发展自己的技术产业，而不是依赖于外国硬件和软件厂商，而自由／开源软件很好地满足了它的软件需求。最近，中国政府宣布政府各部门禁止采购外国生产的软件，从而有效地避免了向微软和甲骨文这样的私有软件厂商购买软件[64]。

除了支持本地化的 GNU/Linux 发行版本（红旗 Linux，蓝点 Linux 等），中国也在政府一级采用自由／开源软件方案。北京市自2001年开始启动了将2,000台桌面计算机的操作系统更换为红旗 Linux 的计划[65]。中国邮政与 IBM 签订了协议，在1,200所分局运行 GNU/Linux 系统[66]。虽然这些项目只涉及中国政府部门的一小部分，它们也为未来的迁移提供了基础。

2002年1月启动的“扬帆”和“启航”计划是北京市政府计算机化工程的一部分。这两个计划的目标是开发功能、可靠性和易用性与微软 Windows 98 相当的本地化 GNU/Linux 操作系统。超过150名工程师已经完成了初步目标，开发出了基本的操作系统，办公套件，浏览器和邮件客户端。计划最新的目标包括字体的开发和向 GNU/Linux 迁移政府的应用软件[67]。

中国正在与日本和南韩合作进行一个自由／开源软件联合开发计划，涉及从操作系统到中间件和桌面应用等各种类型的软件[68]。

==印度==

虽然印度联邦政府目前并没有对自由／开源软件和私有软件的问题正式表态[69]，但印度是自由／开源软件的重要开发国。在部门一级有很多项目：

• 中央税收局将1,000台桌面系统迁移到了 Linux。
• 政府的超级计算机中心 C-DAC 已经全部使用 Linux [70]。
• 高级法院正在进行一些试点项目。

在邦一级，也有几个自由／开源软件项目。最有名的是邦长官 Digvijay Singh 证实的在 Madhya Pradesh 邦政府的电子政务和创业项目中使用 Linux 的计划[71]。Red Hat 已经在印度学校的6,000台桌面计算机上安装了它的 Linux 发行版[72]，今后可能还会安装更多。Kerala 邦也有一些正在进行的项目，包括电子政府和教育方面。

其他已宣布的项目在微软2002年大作宣传的投资活动之后没有进一步的消息[73]。

==中国台湾==

2003年，台湾启动了为期两年的“国家开源计划”，目标是建设可以在政府和教育系统取代所有私有软件的软件产业。这个计划主要的动机是减少对垄断供应商的依赖可能带来的开支节省。“国家计算中心”正在起草将教育系统转换到自由／开源软件的方案以“提供多样化的信息技术教育环境并确保人民享有信息自由的权利。”[74]。这一计划有望使政府节约20亿新台币，而全社会的成本节约可达100亿新台币。

==泰国==

《曼谷邮报》2003年6月23日的一篇文章报道说泰国 ICT 部定下了在2003年底以前在5％的政府计算机系统中安装 Linux 的目标。项目的预算是1000万铢。最终的目标是在50％的政府计算机系统上安装 Linux。这个目标没有设置完成时间，但试点计划已在进行之中。

泰国的低价电脑计划也迫使微软用40美元的价格提供 Windows XP 操作系统和 Office 套件，这是目前世界最低的价格（2003年第3季度）[75]。

==马来西亚==

政府自2001年11月起表示了对自由／开源软件的支持。2002年4月，马来西亚计算机和多媒体行业协会（the Association of Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia, PIKOM）的报告中声称马来西亚从此“正式接纳开源软件”[76]。最初的部署将从服务器开始，然后逐渐转向桌面系统以减少实施中的问题。

马来西亚在2002年7月还推出了基于自由／开源软件的廉价电脑 Komnas [77]。它安装了一种 Linux 的本地化版本，包括办公套件、浏览器和各种应用程序。

==日本==

由于微软 Windows 软件的安全问题，日本正在考虑将其电子政府系统迁移到自由／开源平台[78]。也有报道称官方正在组织一个专家小组研究自由／开源软件的部署。同时，日本政府正在将其整个工资系统迁移到 GNU/Linux 平台。这次转换估计将节省一半的运行费用，特别是硬件的维护费用[79]。

=其他地区=

==非洲==

南非政府的政策鼓励尽量使用自由／开源系统，除非有不可抗的理由要求使用私有软件[80]。这一政策的理由是传统的私有软件模式使南非只能进口软件而对软件开发几乎没有任何干预和影响。自由／开源软件系统有望改变这种情况。

坦桑尼亚也由于成本原因正在政府中使用自由／开源软件系统，而据报道乌干达、加纳和赞比亚也正在向自由／开源软件迁移[81]。

Various governments around the world have begun to take notice of FOSS and launch initiatives to reap the benefits it poses. Many of these initiatives are still in the early stages, but there is a significant trend towards incorporating FOSS into procurement and development policies. Besides the large numbers of reports and white papers recommending FOSS solutions, there are reportedly about 70 proposed laws mandating or encouraging FOSS around the worldi. A few are at the national level while most are at much lower (state or city) levels. The following are highlights of some of the more noteworthy efforts from around the world.
Europe

Besides being home to a significant number of FOSS developers, Europe is also an area with strong government interests in FOSS. In particular, the European Union, Germany, France and the United Kingdom are leading the way in FOSS development.

European Union
The European Union has produced a working paper that stresses Open Standards and encourages Free/Open Source Software where appropriate. The paper, titled “Linking Up Europe: the Importance of Interoperability for E-government Services”, focuses on connecting the different national e-government systems together. It is also critical of past developments that “resulted in closed, vertical, un-scalable and frequently proprietary information systems"ii. This paper was produced as part of the eEurope initiative. The European Union is also creating FOSS competency centers and funding the development of certain health-related applicationsiii.

Germany
Germany has many different initiatives underway. The German Bundestag uses Linux on its 150 serversiv, while the city of Munich plans to switch over 14,000 desktops to Linux, despite Microsoft’s last minute price cutsv. The police force is also transitioning 11,000 clients to Linux. It is interesting to note that price is not always the factor cited for the large number of migrations to Linux. Germany’s Interior Minister, Otto Schilly, said, “We are raising computer security by avoiding a monoculture, and we are lowering dependence on a single supplier”vi. The German Parliament decided in 2001 that FOSS products should be used wherever costs could be decreased by their usagevii. The Ministry of Finance has an Apache/Linux-based intranet system that supports 15,000 usersviii.

France
The officially sanctioned Agency for Technologies of Information and Communication in Administration (ATICA) counts as part of its mission, “to encourage administrations to use free software and open standards.”ix The Authority for Customs and Indirect Taxation has also migrated to Linux, citing security reasonsx. The French agency for e-government has made open standards mandatory for all public administrations to guarantee full interoperabilityxi.

United Kingdom
The United Kingdom (UK) has only recently started formulating policy regarding FOSS procurement but the policies that have been produced to date have been favorable towards FOSS. The UK is primarily interested in avoiding the proprietary lock-in problem and has produced a policy to “only use products for interoperability that support open standards and specifications in all future IT developments”xii. One of the most active proponents of FOSS is the National Health Service, in part due to the insolvency of a proprietary software vendor that forced hospitals to migrate to Linuxxiii.

Finland
It is only fitting that the homeland of Linux’s creator is also active in the FOSS arena. One of the more public initiatives is the gradual migration of the city of Turku to Linux and Open Office. All desktop systems will be migrated, with the first pilot project of 200 computers in progress.

The Finnish State Administration is also reportedly considering replacing all of its desktops with Linux, affecting as many as 147,000 computersxiv.

Americas

United States
Although there is no official FOSS policy in the US federal government, there have been a number of attempts to pass pro-FOSS legislation at the state level. The states include Californiaxv, Texasxvi and Oregonxvii. To date none of the bills have been passed but the momentum is not expected to slow down anytime soon.

Finding detailed information about FOSS usage in the US government is difficult, but a survey from MITRE Corporation shows that the US Department of Defense used a total of 115 different FOSS applications, with 251 examples of their usexviii. Additionally, multiple reports recommending the use of FOSS in the US Federal government have appeared, including one by the (US) President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) which recommended that the US “Federal government should encourage the development of open source software as an alternate path for software development for high end computing”xix.

A few smaller public institutions have shifted over to FOSS platforms. The most well known is the City of Largo, Florida. They have transitioned 900 city employees over to GNU/Linux, saving over $1 million in both hardware and software costsxx. The City of Largo did more than just use Linux as an operating system; they changed their entire computing model to a thin-client system (something which Microsoft Windows currently cannot do) and as a result saved a huge amount in hardware costs. The city of Houston, Texas has also shifted systems over to a FOSS platform after Microsoft demanded that the city change to a $12 million dollar, multi-year licensing planxxi.

Peru
Peru is well known within the FOSS community for being one of the first countries in the world to have introduced legislation favoring FOSS in government procurement. The ensuing publicity, Microsoft’s response and Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Nuñez’s (legislation sponsor) powerful reply would occupy IT news media for quite a while. Among the choice quotes from Dr. Nunez’s response are:

To guarantee the free access of citizens to public information, it is indespensable (sic) that the encoding of data is not tied to a single provider. The use of standard and open formats gives a guarantee of this free access, if necessary through the creation of compatible free software.

To guarantee the permanence of public data, it is necessary that the usability and maintenance of the software does not depend on the goodwill of the suppliers, or on the monopoly conditions imposed by them. For this reason the State needs systems the development of which can be guaranteed due to the availability of the source code.xxii

Although the bill remains stalled (after a US$550,000 donation by Microsoft and pressure from the US Embassy), the reasoning behind the Peruvian bill is something all governments concerned with public data should consider.
Brazil
The Brazilian government plans to migrate 80 percent of all computers in state and state-owned institutions to Linux over the next three years. Pilot programs are already underway and a slow, gradual migration is planned. A “Chamber for the Implementation of Software Libre” has been set up by the government to smooth this transition. Among the reasons cited for this move are lower costs, increased production of local software and “democratiz(ing) access to knowledge”xxiii.
Asia Pacific

Regional
The Asia-Pacific region, with its mix of developed and developing nations, is a very active region in FOSS usage and development. Three of the major nations in the area—Japan, South Korea and China—have recently announced an initiative to create a FOSS operating system adapted to their regional needsxxiv.

China
China is set to be a major stronghold for FOSS over the next few years. FOSS usage in the country is growing rapidly, with Linux growth alone expected to be 175 percent in 2003xxv.

A primary driver of this massive growth is the Chinese government itself. One of its goals is to create both a hardware and software industry that “will not fall into the foreign intellectual property rights trap”xxvi. Rather than becoming dependent on foreign hardware and software vendors, China is trying to develop its local technology industry, and FOSS fits well into its software needs. Recently, the Chinese government announced that government departments would be barred from purchasing foreign produced software, effectively eliminating most proprietary software vendors such as Microsoft and Oraclexxvii.

Beyond sponsoring the creation of localized versions of GNU/Linux (RedFlag Linux, Blue Point Linux, etc.), China is also implementing FOSS solutions at the government level. The city of Beijing has had a project to convert 2,000 desktops to Red Flag Linux since 2001xxviii. China Post Office signed a deal with IBM to run GNU/Linux at 1,200 branch officesxxix. While these projects cover only a small fraction of the Chinese government, they also serve as capacity-building projects for future transitions.

The Yangfan and Qihang projects launched in January 2002 are part of the Beijing Municipal Government’s computerization project. The goal of these projects is to produce a localized GNU/Linux with functionality, consistency and ease of use matching that of Microsoft Windows 98. Over 150 engineers have completed their initial target of a basic operating system, office suite, web browser and email client. The latest iteration of the project includes font development and experimental transition of government applications to GNU/Linuxxxx.

China is also one of three countries (the other two are Japan and South Korea) that are forming a joint FOSS project that would cover the entire spectrum of software, from operating systems to middle ware and desktop applicationsxxxi.

India
While the Indian federal government currently has no official position on the FOSS/proprietary software issuexxxii, India represents a hotbed of FOSS development. There are many department level initiatives:
The Central Excise Department has moved 1,000 desktops to Linux.
The government supercomputer arm, the C-DAC, has moved over entirely to Linuxxxxiii.
The Supreme Court has several pilot projects under way.

At the state level, there have been several FOSS initiatives. The most prominent is the Madhya Pradesh state government’s plan to use Linux in its e-governance and Headstart programs, according to Chief Minister Digvijay Singhxxxiv. Red Hat has installed its version of Linux on over 6,000 desktops in schoolsxxxv, with more likely to come. The state of Kerala has also several initiatives underway, including e-government and educational initiatives.

Other state level initiatives have been announced, but little has been heard about these initiatives since Microsoft’s much-publicized investment in 2002xxxvi.

Taiwan
In 2003, Taiwan launched its “National Open Source Plan”, a two-year plan to build a software industry that could replace all of the proprietary software on government and educational systems. The primary drivers for this plan are the existing dependence on a monopoly supplier and the expected cost savings. The National Computer Center is drafting the basic plan while the national education system will be switched to FOSS “to provide a diverse IT education environment and ensure the people's rights to the freedom of information.”xxxvii Expected savings from the plan are about NT$2 billion for the government and NT$10 billion for the society as a whole.

Thailand
An article in the Bangkok Post on 23rd June 2003 reported that the Thailand ICT Ministry had set a target of five percent Linux installations on government systems by the end of 2003. A 10 million baht budget has been allocated. The ultimate goal is to have 50 percent of all government systems on Linux. No time frame has been set for the more ambitious target but pilot projects are already underway.

Thailand's low-cost PC program is also credited with forcing Microsoft to offer both the Windows XP operating system and Microsoft Office for a mere US$40, the lowest price available in the world at present (3rd quarter 2003)xxxviii.

Malaysia
The government has expressed support for FOSS solutions since November 2001. In April 2002, the Association of Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM) produced a paper suggesting that Malaysia “officially embrace OSS” in April 2002xxxix. Initial deployment will start on servers and then gradually shift to desktops to minimize disruptions in operations.

Malaysia also launched in July 2002 Komnas, a low-cost computer based on FOSSxl. Komnas carries a localized version of Linux, including office suite, web browser and various utilities.

Japan
Japan is considering moving its e-government projects over to FOSS platforms due to security problems in Microsoft Windows softwarexli. Authorities are reportedly putting together a panel of experts to study FOSS deployment. In the meantime, the Japanese government is moving its entire payroll system over to a GNU/Linux platform. The switch is expected to cut operating costs by half, especially maintenance costs from hardwarexlii.

Other Regions

Africa
The South African government has a policy preferring FOSS systems unless there are compelling reasons otherwisexliii. Among the reasons cited for this preference is that with the traditional proprietary software model, South Africa ends up primarily being an importer of software, with little influence over how software is developed. It is hoped that using FOSS systems will change this.

Tanzania is also implementing FOSS systems in its government for cost reasons, while Uganda, Ghana and Zambia are also reportedly moving towards FOSSxliv.